Karl Rove
A judge granted the habeas corpus petition of Guantanamo’s youngest detainee, Mohammed Jawad. The government admitted that it could no longer defend his military detention. However, the ruling gives the government until Aug. 21 in order to allow the Department of Justice to decide whether Jawad should be tried in civilian court for allegedly throwing a hand grenade, injuring two American servicemen and an Afghani translator. Jacob Sullum reminds readers that this is not the end of proceedings for Jawad. If he is charged and acquitted in civilian court, Jawad could be placed in “prolonged detention” until he succeeds in another habeas proceeding. Liza Goiten suggests that those designated enemy combatants will never be found “not guilty.” Scott Horton reminds readers of the treatment to which Jawad was subjected, including death threats and sleep deprivation. And Glenn Greenwald remembers that the order for Jawad’s release would not have been possible except for the Boumediene ruling.
Another detainee, Khaled Al-Mutairi, whose case has not engendered as much debate, was also ordered released. And the Obama administration is looking to create a “courtroom-within-a-prison” complex in either Michigan or Kansas.
The Obama administration is proceeding with plans to aggressively pursue antitrust actions. This reverses the Bush administration position, which sidelined the antitrust division except in cases where consumers were known to be harmed. Early targets of investigation include airline companies, phone and cable providers, and Google. Farhad Manjoo reviews the government’s antitrust case against Microsoft and cautions the DoJ against further tinkering with the relative power of software companies.
Retired NSA and CIA chief Michael Hayden took to the pages of the New York Times to defend the President’s Surveillance Program after the release of the inspectors general report. Hayden noted that Congress was made aware of all activities, that the DoJ signed off on the program, and that, while it is hard to determine the exact amount of useful intelligence procured, the program was valuable to the intelligence community. Spencer Ackerman accuses the former spy chief of “having fun with adjectives,” rather than addressing the concerns of the report.
CIA director Leon Panetta pens an op-ed for the Washington Post in which he expresses hope that Congress will look to the future with him rather than continue pointing fingers over the CIA’s secret assassination program that the agency concealed for seven years.
Karl Rove (pictured above) stepped in front of the House Judiciary Committee in a closed session to answer questions about his role in the firings of nine U.S. Attorneys in 2006. He then gave interviews to the New York Times and Washington Post. Rove admitted that he had passed on complaints about New Mexico’s fired David Iglesias and that he had campaigned for a job for his aide Tim Griffin but, his attorney stressed, Rove’s “answers should put to rest any suspicion that he acted improperly.” Zachary Roth reminds readers that there is a special prosecutor involved and that the story is “a long way from over.”
Read the rest of this entry »
Subscribe to RSS Feed
Weekly Web Watch (8/2-8/9)
August 9, 2009 by Jason RathodPropublica has a nifty tool that tracks how much stimulus funding is going into your county and a useful chart that documents critical information about the 31 Guantanamo detainees whose habeas corpus petitions have been ruled on by federal judges.
The Senate confirmed Sonia Sotomayor to replace outgoing Justice David Souter on the Supreme Court on a 68-31 vote. The New York Times’ Adam Liptak previews the complex cases she will grapple with in the Court’s next term. An analysis by the American Constitution Society suggests that President Barack Obama has the opportunity to fundamentally reshape the composition of appeals courts and district courts nationwide. In other confirmation commentary, the Washington Post editorial board decries the Senate’s delays on confirmation votes for prominent administration nominees such as Dawn Johnson, Obama’s pick to head the Office of Legal Counsel.
The Los Angeles Times reports that Attorney General Eric Holder is on the cusp of appointing a criminal prosecutor to investigate abuses allegedly committed by the CIA during interrogation of terrorism suspects. The Atlantic Monthly’s Andrew Sullivan says the devil may be in the details, arguing that if the investigations are only for those acts that exceeded authorized protocol under the Bush Administration, the investigations may legitimize the Bush Administration’s rules permitting torture.
The Obama Administration petitioned the Supreme Court to rule on an appeal of a federal court ruling that demanded that the Administration release photos showing the abuse of detainees in U.S. custody overseas. The litigation stems from a Freedom of Information Act request by the ACLU, which stresses on its blog that it is “critical that the American people know the full truth about the abuse that occurred in their name.”
Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Weekly Web Watch
Posted in Commentary, Executive Branch Power | Leave a Comment »